TAKE that, Mike Bloomberg – Larry Silverstein just raised the rent at 7 World Trade Center.

Sources say that in the past few weeks, Silverstein quietly upped the “ask” at 7 WTC by 10 percent over the original average $50 a square foot.

Last year, the mayor made a stink over Silverstein’s pricing, saying the developer should slice his rent to $35 a foot – then the average in first-class buildings downtown, all at least 25 years older.

But Silverstein, who swiftly put up the gleaming tower even as the state, city and Port Authority bogged him down at Ground Zero, is calling the shots. Sources say that 1.2 million of the tower’s 1.6 million feet are now leased or term-sheeted.

Only 60,000 feet are actually leased. But in addition to recent term sheets – nonbinding agreements that spell out major terms of a prospective lease – for Moody’s Financial Services and Vantone, we’ve learned that term sheets have also been signed for an additional 340,000 square feet.

Three different Midtown companies account for those 340,000 feet. And one reason they’re hot for 7 WTC is because of deals like the one Limited Brands, parent of Victoria’s Secret, Limited Stores and Henri Bendel, just signed at Vornado’s 1740 Broadway uptown. (Terms were not disclosed; various databases listed the asking rent at $60 a square foot.)

The deal – negotiated for Limited by CB Richard Ellis’ Mary Ann Tighe, Eric Deutsch, Jason Pollen and Ken Meyerson – gobbled up 320,051 square feet. The move from five smaller Limited office locations in Midtown represents a 50,000-square-foot expansion and also puts the retailer’s several Victoria’s Secret labels under one roof for the first time – “underwear everywhere,” an insider said.

But its larger significance is that it further reduces Midtown’s dwindling supply of large-block availabilities, forcing more firms to look downtown.

Tighe says Limited hired CBRE to propose a consolidation plan last December, a process that usually takes six to 12 months.

“But we recommended within 60 days that they had to accelerate their plans, because the market was changing and large blocks were drying up.”

CBRE’s Deutsch detailed how tight Midtown has become. He says that as of June 30, 2005, CBRE counted 5.28 million square feet of Midtown space available in blocks of 100,000 feet and up, out of a total Midtown inventory of 198 million feet.

By the end of June this year, it plummeted to 3.5 million feet; and the Limited deal reduced it to a mere 3.16 million.

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Manhattan real estate developer William Haines last night appeared close to settling a sexual-harassment lawsuit leveled against him and his Bromley Companies development firm earlier this year, The Post has learned.

Haines, 64, who developed the Bromley condo high-rise on the West Side, was accused in April by a former model of sexual harassment after she broke off a six-year affair.

Josephine Vitale, 54, of Tampa, claims Haines made her life a living hell – and eventually fired her from her high-profile job – after she called an end to their romance.

In addition, Vitale claims Haines is moving to evict her from her tony waterfront Tampa condo – which the St. Petersburg Times described as being a five-bedroom, 4,300 square foot space. Vitale claims it was a gift made during the heat of the affair.

“[Haines] repeatedly abused his power and status to sexually harass Ms. Vitale and, when she objected, set out to destroy her life in myriad ways including terminating her employment and seeking to evict her from her home,” Vitale charged in her lawsuit.

“There are a number of inaccuracies and false allegations in this complaint that we’re confident will be shown to be untrue if this case should ever get to court,” said a spokesman for Haines.

“We are saddened that Ms. Vitale chose to take this action.”

Among the charges leveled in the lawsuit:

* that Haines, also the chairman of Ithaca College, once crawled under a restaurant table and tried to “lick Vitale’s toes” after she had called off their romance.

* that Haines grabbed Vitale and “forcibly tried to kiss her while pulling her across a table in public, in the presence of a business associate.”

Vitale had been hired by Haines to promote the massive Tampa Bay 1 commercial-residential development in that Florida city, the suit alleges.

But once the romance ended, Haines stopped taking Vitale’s calls, making it all but impossible for her to do her job, according to the suit. Haines’ actions ultimately led to Vitale’s termination from Tampa Bay 1, it is alleged.

Vitale filed her suit in April in Manhattan federal court. Last month, lawyers for Haines filed a motion to dismiss the action. The settlement talks were ongoing last night.

Vitale could not be reached for comment.

However, in court papers, lawyers for Haines claim that the suit should be tossed because she did not work in New York and the alleged harassment did not take place here.

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ATO Records, the label of Dave Matthews and other popular artists, is moving to Swig Equities’ 44 Wall St., bringing the tower to 100 percent occupancy. The company signed for 16,000 square feet.